In a perfect world, this would be the end of it...

...but I'm not holding my breath.

I was jumping around some of my "daily reads" today, when Crooks & Liars directed me to a post by Arthur at The Light of Reason that made my blood run cold.

The exchange occurred during one of Roberts’ informal discussions with senators last week. According to two people who attended the meeting, Roberts was asked by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) what he would do if the law required a ruling that his church considers immoral. Roberts is a devout Catholic and is married to an ardent pro-life activist. The Catholic Church considers abortion to be a sin, and various church leaders have stated that government officials supporting abortion should be denied religious rites such as communion. (Pope Benedict XVI is often cited as holding this strict view of the merging of a person’s faith and public duties).

Renowned for his unflappable style in oral argument, Roberts appeared nonplused and, according to sources in the meeting, answered after a long pause that he would probably have to recuse himself.

What the fuck?

Arthur sez (bold mine):

Let me rephrase the central point to emphasize the fundamentality of this issue: if Roberts views particular positions dictated by his religious faith as being on an equal footing with the demands of the Constitution and the laws of the United States—and would view the two as of equal significance as a Supreme Court Justice—that is a very, very serious problem. It is also a disqualifying problem.

For a Supreme Court Justice, there must be only one ultimate authority: the Constitution and the laws. Period. The principle applies to any judge at all, but it is especially critical that a Justice of the Supreme Court hew to this standard. In this sense, Scalia’s observation that resignation is the only proper course for a judge who faces this dilemma is entirely correct.

Goddamn straight. I don't want any judge allowing their personal beliefs to affect their interpretation of the law; if he's Supreme Court Justice, or in traffic court. Personal opinion should never intervene in a judge's decisions; faith-based or otherwise. For the record, if Roberts was pro-choice and still said he would have to recuse himself from a decision because he couldn't make an accurate interpretation of the law due to his beliefs, I would hold the exact same opinion.

Roberts has all but admitted he is unfit to serve as Supreme Court Justice, and everyone in this country, Republican, Democrat, Independent, or what have you, should be opposing his nomination.

So I would go one step further: while I agree with Turley that Roberts demonstrated a welcome honesty in answering the question (at least in this informal setting), if this is indeed Roberts’ perspective, he should remove himself from consideration for the Supreme Court right now. And he would—if, that is, he were a man of honor, and if he took ideas seriously.

I couldn't agree more.

(Apologies if this isn't new news to you, dear reader. I'm a few days out of the loop.)

(Cross the Post, Don't cross the post, baby... don't tip the post over!)